March 29, 2007

Coming to its twentieth six celebration of Hong Kong Film Awards, set to be held on April 15 this year, Hong Kong Film Awards Association (HKFAA) has delightfully unveiled the list of titles and names nominated for this most prestigious film awards in the region.

Becoming the most nominated one is epic feature "Curse of the Golden Flower" as it fantastically scooped up fourteen nominations in total, notably the top prize of Best Film and Best Director for Zhang Yimou, followed by "Fearless" and "The Banquet" with seven nods each.

Looks like 'back-to-basic' story has become quite a trend to be applied in Hollywood film productions lately. Taking the same recent decision filmmakers of "Escape from New York" made for the project, those of "Mortal Kombat: Devastation" reportedly will also give a reboot treatment to the popular franchise.

"The movie is not going to be a prequel, sequel, or in any form be related to the previous 2 movie," a source revealed to Moviehole.net. "Pretty much like Batman Begins, is going to restart the series with new concepts, stories, etc."

Cheer up "Castlevania" fans, fear not that the movie you have been waiting for may get stalled for Paul W.S. Anderson has countered words saying he has left the project to do "Death Race."

Openly telling IGN Movies, the action filmmaker firmly claimed that he is still very much involved in the project and that reports on it encountering its doom due to his desire to make "Deathrace" next are greatly exaggerated.

Health issue hit the soccer great, again. Argentine football legend Diego Maradona was rushed to a Buenos Aires clinic Wednesday March 28th after falling ill from over-indulging in food, alcohol and cigars, it has been reported.

Maradona arrived at the Guemes health clinic in the Argentine capital in an ambulance and "has entered the sanatorium for medical studies following an imbalance he suffered today," the clinic said in a statement.

Seems it is very possible to have Special Agent Fox Mulder and Dana Scully back on the big screen if looking on the good tidbit David Duchovny has brought in.

As reported by IESB.net, Duchovny told the press this week that he and co-star Gillian Anderson are in final talks to reprise the roles for the sequel to 1998's hit "The X Files", the first film adaptation of widely popular TV series of the same name. The actor was even confident that a deal would probably reached by the end of the week, with filming to commence next year.

With cable channel E! acquired the rights to Katie Price and hubby Peter Andre's reality TV show, the one of Victoria Adams which will be broadcast on NBC will have to face a tough competitor.

The reality show, a trilogy, shows life behind the scenes for the glamour model and her singer husband. It already becomes a hit in the UK and will be a favorite as well among US audiences after E! Entertainment bought all three series.

Production on Warner Bros. Pictures' romantic adventure flick "Fool's Gold" has unexpectedly come to a halt for this time being due to the spread of a deadly species of jellyfish along Australia's coastline where the picture is getting filmed.

UK's Telegraph reports that Dr. Jamie Seymour of James Cook University claimed to find five of the animals off Queensland's Fraser Island known as Irukandji jellyfish, which are noticed to be among the world's most toxic creatures. Researches have discovered that this kind of jellyfish, translucent and of the size of a thumbnail, can cause several pains at various parts of human body when it stings.

Mia Hamm and husband Nomar Garciaparra welcomed the arrival of their first child, twin daughters, late Tuesday March 27th.

"Both are healthy and over five pounds," Nomar spokesman Josh Rawitch said, adding the births took place in the Los Angeles area.

Landing her second big screen stint in Hollywood, Jennifer Hudson is set to star in Unruly Films' dramatic feature "Winged Creatures", a film adaptation of Roy Freirich's novel of the same title, Hollywood Wiretap has reported.

Placed together with the likes of Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Jackie Earle Haley, and Dakota Fanning in the cast, here the Oscar-winning actress will be billed to play the daughter of a character portrayed by fellow Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Film's story follows the witnesses to a brutal murder suicide in a fast food restaurant as they cope with the aftermath of the incident and how they affect the people who help them along the way.

Ask them how does it feel to meet each other again for the first time after ending their two and a half years romance. Hilary Duff has the answer. "It was so, like, nerve-wracking," when she met Joel Madden for the first time since their split last November.

"I just did TRL today and Joel was there, and it was the first time we'd seen each other. I knew that he was going to be there and he knew. It is what it is. I mean, what am I going to do? It's life," Duff said on their March 26th meeting. "It was a little strange at first, but I wish nothing but good for him and I know that he wishes the same for me. I'm happy and he's happy and I think that's all that counts."

The once pop princess is "Overprotected". Her security guard pulled a gun on a photographer, pulled him out of the car, and then proceeded to handcuff him while Britney Spears was in a Bel Air Presbyterian church on Sunday morning March 25th.

"When her 4X4 came out (police) officers stopped the traffic and let her go ahead and held paparazzi back. One photographer tried to get past and suddenly two undercover security guards ran out into the street. The photographer looked terrified. It's not what you expect to see outside a church service," a source revealed.

Another case of artist leaving its recording house has occurred between post-hard core band Thursday and Island Records. Posted in MySpace.com the band said that even though it was a tough decision, both parties are happy with the outcome.

The band has done two albums under the label's wing. "War All the Time" was first produced in 2003 while the band's latest album "A City by the Light Divided" (2006) was the last album via the label. This decision may result from the success of 2003's album which sold 364,000 copies in US was not followed by the 2006 one. "A City by the Light Divided" only accumulates 132,000 units to this date.

A fashion icon and supermodel herself, Kate Moss is having her new collection for Topshop debuts in the UK on May 1st and on sale in US department store Barneys on May 8th.

The Kate Moss Topshop collection, consists of about 80 pieces, will range from £10 for a vest to about £200 for a soft-leather jacket.

Finally, new names for "National Treasure" sequel are submitted to join the principal cast members from the 2003 adventure flick. JoBlo has revealed that Helen Mirren and Ed Harris have both reached agreement to take part in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets."

Lining up with Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, and Harvey Keitel who all are set to reprise their roles, Oscar-winner Mirren is billed to portray Emily Gates, the mother of Cage's character Ben Gates. JoBlo reported that she would help link her son to his family's connection to John Wilkes Booth and the mysterious Knights of the Gold Circle.

Canadian duo Tegan & Sara will release their fifth album under the title "The Con". The album will reach the stores by July 24 via Vapor/Sanctuary Records. The twins manage to share some details for this upcoming album.

Chris Walla from Death Cab for Cutie shares the production of this album with the twins. He has said to contain the aspiration from both Sara and Tegan. "They wanted something that was a little bit grittier," he said in an interview with billboard.com. "I guess there's like three or four songs we pretty much built on the demos, and three or four more where we've pulled elements from them. The rest, we started from scratch on."

That Jude Law dating Lindsay Lohan, that is just a gossip. The actor, on the other way around, is romantically linked to another Hollywood starlet who happens to be Natalie Portman. The twosome are fuelling speculation they are dating after being spotted getting friendly at the wrap party of their new film, "My Blueberry Nights."

Jude, who's been friend with Portman since being in the same scene in "Closer" and "Cold Mountain," is said to have "always had a soft spot for Natalie. Jude thinks she's beautiful and they get along very well." The actor, apparently, made his move to escalate their friendship to new heights at the wrap party.

Going adventurous this time, "The Departed" star Ray Winstone has agreed to take starring part in what is currently known as "Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures", The Hollywood Reported has revealed.

Lined up with the likes of Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett, the English actor is said to play the sidekick to the titular character, set to be played by Harrison. Meanwhile, what role Blanchett will portray is still unclear for now.

A new row of names has been added to be the presenters of the 2007 CMT's Music Awards. They are Kellie Pickler, Barbara Mandrell, Jason Aldean, Josh Turner, LeAnn Rimes, Taylor Swift and former professional wrestler Steve Austin.

The event that will take place in Nashville on April 16 will allow fans to choose "Flatt Out Fan Favorite" apart from voting the winners for the awards. This newly added program is based on Rascal Flatts song that will also be performed on the show.

Embracing his first feature directorial debut, Marco Schnabel has signed on to helm self-help comedy "The Love Guru" for Paramount Pictures, Variety has reported.

Starring Mike Myers as the title character, the flick follows the advice-dispensing Guru as he is called to solve a couple's romantic troubles. Myers, who co-wrote the script with Graham Gordy, is said to have worked at crafting the character at several theaters in Manhattan.

Female audiences sure are getting special attention from film companies as film projects targeted for them keep flowing on. In the wake of "P.S. I Love You" and "Kiss & Tango", New Line Cinema is on the move to develop a tale of a woman's journey of self-discovery in "The Next Thing on My List."

Based on Jill Smolinski's upcoming second novel of the same title, the flick will revolve on the woman's life account after a freak car crash she has experienced that left her 24-year-old passenger dead. Later finding out that a list of things the dead woman wanted to do by age 25, she then decides to do all the items listed to honor her.

Riding high on his winning at this year's Oscar through "The Last King of Scotland", Forest Whitaker has given his commitment to star in thriller drama "The Night Watchman¹", which was recently reported to be financed by both Fox Searchlight Pictures and New Regency Productions.

Thereby joining Keanu Reeves in the cast, the Texas-born actor will portray a captain of an elite group of LAPD cops called Ad/Vice in the project. Meanwhile, Reeves is billed as one of the team's members who questions the ruthless tactics he has applied to become such an effective force in solving murders and battling gang violence and drugs.

They are twins but are not the same in particular ways. One thing that makes Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen not quite the same one to another is their noses, which they allegedly want to match.

Mary-Kate and Ashley have reportedly consulted Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Raj Kanodia about matching nose jobs. The idea for getting a rhinoplasty was apparently Ashley's, a source told In Touch Weekly magazine.

The newly reunited The Smashing Pumpkins will come back with a big bang on May 22 after their six and a half years of vacuum. The lucky venue to witness this first return is Grand Rex Theatre in Paris.

Fresh materials from the upcoming album "Zeitgeist" will be revealed for the first time here and the band will also play their old time favorites from previous albums. Two of the members are confirmed to revive this Pumpkins show. Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin are all set to get on stage but it is uncertain who else will back them up in the performance.

What is it that isn't right about letting the other know you're dating someone? There's nothing wrong with that, maybe, but for Penelope Cruz that means something. The Spanish actress is trying to keep her romance with Josh Hartnett a secret.

While Orlando Bloom, with whom she's been linked recently, is reported going out with her look-alike in New York, Cruz and Hartnett tried to have fun on their own. In Touch magazine reports the pair tried to get a private table at the trendy Los Angeles restaurant El Coyote last week.

The chart this week went through quite a change both in the number of copies sold and the albums reigning it. Coming first, second and third are all new comers. Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" sold the highest unit this week with 129,000 and therefore has the right to #1 spot. The tight competitor, Joss Stone's "Introducing Joss Stone" came in at No. 2 after selling 118,000 at the first week. Elliott Yamin with self-titled debut album meanwhile joins his fellow idol casts in the chart by sitting at #3 due to total sales of 90,000.

DAUGHTRY in its seventeenth week still holds its last week position at #4 after selling 76,000. With the kind of number, DAUGHTRY's self-titled album has sold a total of 2 million copies worldwide. A tie occurs between newcomer Marques Houston's "Veteran" and old reigner Akon's "Konvicted". "Veteran" and "Konvicted" have both sold an approximate of 69,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan but the former is positioned ahead at #5.

Sacha Baron Cohen and his fiancee Isla Fisher have a good news to share the whole world. They are about to become first-time parents.

The couple announced the good news March 11th at the Cat and Fiddle, telling friends they are expecting their first child together.

They are famous and have lots of money, yet it unfortunately brings them more trouble. Angelina Jolie and partner Brad Pitt were shocked by news of a plot to kidnap their newly adopted son Pax Thien, it has been reported.

An exclusive report in this week's Life & Style reported that Jolie's security team learned a "credible" plot was "meticulously planned" by a deadly gang to abduct the 3-year-old Pax Thien as the actress made plans to return to America on March 19th soon after she finished his adoption papers.